Take a photograph
by Lord Mephystroph
Summary: Really, it was just gathering for old times' sake. But he never really thought of it any more than just an idiots' assembly... -ONESHOT-


Take a photograph

I own nothing.

* * *

_A stroke of sheer idiocy would have been the words he'd use to describe it._

_The weather had been feeling particularly gracious that day._

_It was the summer of 2008, Wardington, Japan. Children and teens of all ages littered the park that the scene was set in. Though brawling was no longer commonplace as it once was, people still came back here, whether it was to enjoy the scenery, or to reminisce the good old days before Nāga, or simply to hang out. Enjoy themselves, and life as it was._

_Life was so quaint, back then._

_It was on that day under the same harsh sun of summer that found five friends gathered in front of a camera lens, while sixth person stood behind, trying to figure out how to use the device, the nameless buttons confounding the boy's slow mind._

"_For crying out loud, Dan, what the hell's taking you so long?!" A sharp voice pierced the tense atmosphere that was building up within the group, as they waited upon him impatiently. It sounded like it belonged to a girl's , but in a tomboyish manner that belied a fearsome demeanor._

_An irked sigh followed as another one, with a much higher pitched voice, cried out, "Yeah, Dan! I'm like, burning up in this freakishly hot sun dude! This is so NOT good for my tan..."_

"_Geez, chill out guys! I'm still trying to work this stupid thing..."_

"_Chill out?! Gosh, that's awfully funny, Dan. Wait till I get my hands on you..."_

_A groan came, this time by a tall boy who was standing as if he were by himself, even though he was surrounded by his friends. Like a pessimist foreshadowing an irksome gag in a cynical manner, or at least, a lovers spat, he shuttered his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose."Cripes, they're at it again..."_

_The lonesome male felt a soft hand reaching out and grasping his arm, and even though he knew who it was, he turned around and dropping his hand, opened his eyes just a little to be graced with the tranquil sight of, who he thought, was the only sane person here, besides himself, amongst this demented troupe._

_Gentle words were spoken as s__he eyed the bluenette and the brunette with a small degree of concern._

_"Do you think we should- ?"_

"_I wouldn't even bother, Alice. I just hope they can finish this so I can go home and catch up on some training..."_

_Another expression of annoyance was made, but this time it came from a short blonde boy who looked at his bickering friends with exasperation. He knew he shouldn't have expected any more from them, as they all were, but he felt that it was really dragging out too long._

_With a roll of his eyes, he shuffled over to the confounded brunette to stand next to him. "Lower it down for me, will you? I'll take over from here."_

_Dan complied obediently and brought the stand down, aware that despite his deceivingly dwarfish height, Marucho was still a genius in all regards, and had a far better grasp of this foreign technology than he would ever have._

_Expertly, the intelligent blonde (forgive the sardonic oxymoron) jabbed down on__ the buttons, finally activating the timer function that had teasingly eluded Dan and his limited ability with complex technology. The red light was a-blinking, and Marucho walked back to join the group._

_Dan was about to follow suit when he noticed something terribly wrong with the image._

"_Come on, Shun, you better smile! Or I'm making everyone take this picture again!"_

_All eyes fell on the stereotyped hotshot at the mentioning of his name. He narrowed his eyes to glare back at them irritably. _

_"What?"_

_The red light began to blink a little faster now...  
_

_He barely even noticed the creeping figure stalking towards his back, before it stood next to him and reached to pinch both his cheeks._

"_Come on, Mr. Hotshot, just like this..." In an earnest attempt to try to get Shun to form what resembled a happy, or at least bemused expression, he began to pull them upwards._

"_What the fu-"_

"_Shun! Watch your language!" The redhead Russian thumped his shoulder with her petite fists trying to cut off the profanity._

"_-uck Dan?! Gerroffame!" Shun, completely ignoring the glare and warning sent by Alice, gave Dan a hard elbow to his jawbone, not in the least concerned if he broke it. Served that space-intruding bastard right._

_The red light was blinking rapidly, supposedly signalling everyone to get into positions. Not that anyone paid any attention to it.  
_

_Marucho looked on weakly as he raised his hands in a stop sign in a feeble attempt to act the mediator to stop the roughhousing. "Guys, come on..."_

_Runo and Julie could only laugh at the ruckus caused, but they too, tried to reach in to pull them apart._

_The camera flashed, and it was all over._

_The resulting image depicted an awfully ticked off Shun elbowing off a flailing Dan that was holding on to the said ninja's face for what his life was worth. Alice was glaring dangerously at Shun with a fist connected to his shoulder, and she had her mouth open as if she were nagging at him, while Runo and Julie were trying to pry the two boys apart. In front of them stood Marucho waving his hands around wearing extremely worried expression on his face, as if he were trying to stop all this senselessness._

_All in all, he thought, it was simply an idiotic scene depicting a group of complete idiot friends, seemingly doing... well... idiotic things._

_A stroke of sheer idiocy was the way he saw it._

_Not that he would have had it any other way, frankly.  
_

_He couldn't help but to smile at the thought._

* * *

A/N: For the folks at FlowersOverBoys forum, you guys probably would have seen this already. Or the semi-active ones, at least.

And so marks my brief return to FFnet, just for a while. This oneshot is actually more of the prelude-ish sort, where the elusive character in the backdrop is reminiscing on things that had happened prior to a named event that takes place in the story.

I hope the readers enjoy this, for what it's worth (seriously, I spent 53 minutes on this).

Still, glad to get this thing off my chest. This idea was nagging at me for weeks now.

Review and stuff.

-Lord Meph (rhymes with Meth, I never realized..)


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